George Washington kept nine enslaved people at President’s House in Philadelphia. The Trump administration removed a display honoring them.
Philadelphia slavery exhibit dismantled by National Park Service
The display commemorating enslaved people, who lived and worked at George Washington’s home during his presidency, was removed in Philadelphia.
Michael Coard was “ecstatic” when he heard that a judge had ordered the reinstatement of displays commemorating the enslaved people held by President George Washington.
A federal judge in Philadelphia Feb. 16 issued a stern rebuke of the Trump administration’s desire “to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts.”
The administration does not control historical facts, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled.
In an emailed response to USA TODAY inquiries, the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior said it planned to file an appeal. (Earlier, the department had said in a statement that the appeal had already been filed.)
“We disagree with the court’s ruling,” the statement said. “The National Park Service routinely updates exhibits across the park system to ensure historical accuracy and completeness.”
The statement called Rufe’s ruling an “unnecessary judicial intervention,” adding that it planned to install what it called “updated interpretive materials providing a fuller account of the history of slavery at Independence Hall” sometime “in the coming days.”
The dismantling of displays at President’s House in Philadelphia is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration aimed at “ending DEI programs and gender ideology extremism” and “restoring truth and sanity to American history,” it said. A year ago, references to transgender people were scrubbed from Stonewall National Monument’s website, and earlier in February, a pride flag was removed from that site. Other signage at national sites relating to Native Americans’ displacement and climate change have come under scrutiny as well.
Citing George Orwell’s famous novel “1984” and its fictional state’s motto that “ignorance is strength,” Rufe sided with the City of Philadelphia, Washington’s home in the early days of his presidency.
The city had said a 1948 law and a 1950 agreement between the city and the federal government required the National Park Service to get the city’s permission before making changes to the site.
Signage identifying nine enslaved people and describing life for 18th-century Black Philadelphians was dismantled Jan. 22 by federal workers acting on President Donald Trump’s orders.
The President’s House parcel, at 6th and Market streets − steps from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall − is where Washington lived when Philadelphia was the U.S. capital, and records show he kept enslaved people there.
Coard, who worked for two decades to recognize the contribution of those enslaved people, told USA TODAY he had just left a rally in support of the displays when he heard the news.
“This comes as a surprise for a number of reasons ‒ not only that it happened, but that it happened on the date that it happened (on President’s Day),” he said.
Coard said he and his group, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, are “optimistic but also pragmatic,” given the federal government has 30 days to appeal.
Rufe’s ruling did not give a date for the restoration of the displays, and Coard, an attorney, said he expects the Trump administration to request a stay pending an appeal, which would allow the signage to remain in storage.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
Phaedra Trethan is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writing about history and Americana. Contact her by email at [email protected], on X @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra
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